The researchers from an army medical centre in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing fired high-speed 5mm steel bullets at sedated young male pigs to assess the potential impact of hypersonic weapons on the human body. Hypersonic weapons are an intense area of military research, with Russian defence contractor Lobaev Arms saying in 2019 that it was developing a hypersonic rifle that could accelerate a bullet to nearly Mach 6. The bullets in the Chongqing experiment were fired at the thigh of each pig and reached a velocity up to 4,000 metres per second (about 13,000 feet per second), or more than 11 times the speed of sound. The shots did not immediately kill the pigs, but shock waves from the bullets caused severe wounds throughout the body, according to a paper published on Monday by the researchers in Acta Armamentarii, an official journal run by the China Ordnance Society. “Extensive damage to many organs can be seen at the time of injury, mainly including the fracturing of bones and bleeding in the intestine, bladder, lung and brain,” said the team led by Wang Jianmin with the Department of Weapon Bioeffect Assessment at the Army Specialty Medical Centre in Chongqing. The pigs were euthanised six hours after the test. Autopsy results suggested the bullet penetrated the thigh at speeds from 1,000 to 3,000 metres per second.
I would be more impressed if they had said they found a cure for cancer or something like that. Who needs another tool to kill?
Poor pigs. RIP. Know that you did not die in vain but contributed to a great cause in humankind in destroying lives even more effectively and more painfully.
Well they didn't find a way to extend life but they did find a way to destroy lives more effectively and painfully. Before you at least had a chance to survive gunshot wounds, now you stand zero chance. Wait until they sell these weapons to organized crime units like the Mafia and/or your local street gangs. And the current bulletproof equipment would be useless. They would now have to come up with sound-absorbing bullet-proof equipment I would imagine.
Hypersonic bullets would penetrate vehicle armor. Extreme chamber pressure and barrel length would make it a long range sniper rifle. The .220 Swift bullet is already fast at 4665 ft per second. The China 5mm bullet is too light for long range.